Quote:
Originally Posted by aklim
My personal example was when the union shop charged me more than twice to do a job because they needed 2 people since the length of the pipe was over a certain number by a foot or two. $750 to the non union $350 bid. Both had the same footage and materials. The union shop told me outright that because it was over that number, it took 2 people so I should pay for twice the pipe foot rate. Didn't take me long to tell him "Thanks but I'll go with the first quote.".
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Saw the same thing happen my last shore duty tour in the Navy.
I was at Bangor Sub Base in WA state, in the Radiological Controls Division, all military personnel. 1 1/2 years into it, a political deal was made allowing union civilian workers from Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton to be in charge of and perform any work associated with such, most of us military types were reassigned to other shops. The cost to the command for performing any particular evolution more than TRIPLED overnight.
Before that even happened, there was one particular major evolution we performed on one ship, that required rotating 12 on 12 off shifts for 2 or 3 weeks. The officer in charge of planning the evolution was also the head of the Nuclear Repair Division - which contained a goodly number of union civilian workers.
At the main briefing for the evolution, said officer announced that the shift times would be 3 AM to 3 PM and vice versa. The CO of the ship the work was being performed on - a full bird Captain (one step below Admiral) - asked flat out "why the f*** did you pick THOSE stupid a$$ times?"
For many seconds there was an awkward silence, then a young enlisted petty officer in the back of the room spoke up and said "so the civilians on both shifts can get mid shift differential pay".
And he was absolutely right. By the base union rules, mid shift was offically from 11 PM to 7 AM, and if any civilian union worker worked for four hours of that time period, then he would be entitled to the mid shift pay rate for his ENTIRE 12 HOUR SHIFT.
The briefing officer (an O-3 Lieutenant) turned beet red, and the full bird Captain of said ship proceeded to give him an epic public butt chewing right then and there, letting him know in no uncertain terms what a BS idea he thought that was - that while the Looey might have his civilian workers come in at 3 AM, they'd be doing nothing but sitting around with their thumbs up their posteriors until 6 AM until HIS people showed up for HIS SHIP'S normal muster time, THEN the shift briefing would occur.
Let's just say that for my part, it was one of the more enjoyable moments in my 20 years.
